Backbiting, battle lines drawn between teammates, agents frothing at the mouth, season ending injuries, and a team that is losing more than they are winning and unable to make significant progress for a 4th consecutive season. There have been many opportunities to make an impact and move forward but the organization has been more prone to falling back instead. Well, the team is at the plate with 2 outs and a 3-2 count. They can’t afford to leave their bats on their shoulders this time.

Knee Deep

The Mets have been seeing some progress with Carlos Beltran, particularly at the plate, but his day to day knee tendinitis has come at a bad time. With the team where they are this season and players being pulled for the rest of the season, what will the team’s approach be for Beltran? Is it a benefit to sit him and look to 2011 for a fresh, healthy start? In 10 games, he’s batting .333 (6 RBI’s, 2 SB’s, 11 H’s, 5 BB’s, and 5 R’s) in 33 AB’s. Obviously, he hasn’t been a detriment to the team but do you play him early and often for the rest of the season and for what purpose? If we’re keeping him, then sit him and let him come back completely healthy in 2011. If he gets hurt worse then you put yourself at a worse disadvantage next year. But there may be another thread to this story….

Everyone’s A Critic

Scott Boras is venting again and the subject of his ire is the Mets.

“What they’ve done is the equivalent of Campbell’s soup taking one of their cans, kicking it down the aisle, tarnishing the can, and then trying to sell you the soup…Why is management doing that? There seems to be a serious problem there.”

Now I’m the last guy to defend an agent but Boras has a point in how the team has treated Beltran, his use of hyperbole not withstanding. To be honest, I’m not totally sure I get the reference but I can see that he feels his client’s being mistreated. The team doctors misdiagnosed him and thus, affected his playing time and value. The organization has openly critiqued him on the Walter Reed issue. Everyone involved is again not on the same page and it plays out in the morning papers, blogs, and chat rooms. But this time, the wheeler and dealer is right. Mets management is a walking, talking punchline now. There is so much that management should be dealing with but they let this kind of stuff leak? Is this a veiled attempt to justify getting rid of Beltran? What? You didn’t think it. Now this relationship will be strained for the last 2 years of his contract with the team. Take pictures and buy jerseys while you can. Boras, like him or hate him, is right. There is something really wrong upstairs and I doubt he will go out of his way to steer any more clients to Flushing without remembering this. A lot of agents may feel the same way before long.

Injury Report

Bay. Concussion. Possibly September ’10. K-Rod. Torn Ligament in thumb. Out for season. Santana. Shoulder surgery. 6 months to maybe 2 years depending. Tejada. Hyper Extended Forearm. Part time/shutdown for the season – undetermined. Honestly, there are four or more players on that list. You’ll be seeing the younger guys play more whether you want it or not. If past history repeats itself, our team will not look as different as many of us will like it to when 2011 rolls around. Hopefully, these injuries won’t be misdiagnosed, too. We have no choice but to look towards next year now.

Who’s On Second?

It seems to be the talk of the town right now but I don’t know why. Tejada’s injured but his long term stay at the position is yet to be determined. As long as it’s not Castillo, it’ll work for me. There are plenty of candidates out there like the newly acquired Joaquin Arias, Luis Hernandez (prob in a backup role), the incumbent Reese Havens (development slowed by injury). But let’s get real, the logical choice is one both you and the Mets seem to want but I don’t understand it: Daniel Murphy? I am not getting what everyone sees in him. He is not Jose Oquendo in my mind but before long, he might play every position on the field. Nick Evans did the same at the team’s request (played 4 positions too) but doesn’t get this kind of love. He is considered by a “leading” candidate for the second base job. Very average glove, average bat at times. So what makes him better than Tejada or Havens? Help me out on this one, guys and gals.

Have a great day, Met Nation. Now the season is practically over, the future is closer than it appears. Expect a Mets winning streak now. Classic.

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